An Infernal Wonder
by her0ngray
Summary: It was a wonder why Tessa Gray was in Gryffindor. (The Infernal Devices- Hogwarts AU)


It was a wonder why Tessa Gray was in Gryffindor. She wasn't brave at all. Especially considering she had just screamed because a spider the size of a pin had crawled onto the novel she was reading out of.

No, Tessa didn't find she was brave at all. She wasn't very strong either. Not that you needed strength to cast a spell, but it did help to have a little amount of coordination. When she arrived at Hogwarts at the ripe age of eleven, she suspected she would have gotten into Hufflepuff or maybe even Ravenclaw. She did not think that she would get into Slytherin. Not that there was anything inherently wrong with the green house. In fact, her cousin, Nathaniel, resided in Slytherin house.

But it came an utter surprise when she was selected for one of the most well-known houses. 5 years later it was still a wonder.

Now, sitting in front of her cousin's house's fire grate, she felt the excitement seep into her bones. Tessa loved Hogwarts. It was a friendly environment, and this year was hopefully going to be less stressful, considering she didn't have her O.W.L.s to complete.

Not only was it a friendly environment, but, it was a familiar one. And Tessa had longed for something to familiarise herself with for the past few years. This summer, just like the last one, she had spent it in London. She was living in her Aunt Harriet's house with her cousin Nate.

Where Tessa's own mother was a muggle (a non-magical human being), Harriet Moore, her mother's sister, was a witch. So was the man she married, Joseph Moore. Tessa's dad Richard was a muggle as well, making Tessa muggle-born and Nate a pureblood, which was a confusing concept, but one that Tessa could easily wrap her head around none the less.

But her summer's had not always been spent with the Moore's. Before Tessa was around fourteen, she used to spend her school holidays back in America, with her parents. She couldn't do that now considering they were dead, Tessa thought to herself bluntly. She shook her head absent-mindedly. It was the day before she went to Hogwarts and she didn't want to make her mood go down, as it always did when she thought about her late parents.

Her sixth year was one to look forward to. It would be Tessa's second last year at Hogwarts and she had chosen to cherish it. And with that in mind she went to her room and, after looking at her ready-packed chest of clothes, she snuggled into bed and tried to calm her thoughts to get prepared for sleep.

_Beep beep beep_

Like a zombie waking up from the dead, Tessa only just managed to press the _snooze_ button before she collapsed onto the pillow. A few more minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt too much…

_Beep beep beep_

Why was her alarm clock going off anyway? It wasn't as if she was had mundane school. In fact, she was on school holidays. At Hogwarts the date you came back was the 1st of September. Tessa gingerly opened her eyes to see the date on her clock.

It read the 1st of September. _See, _Tessa thought to herself as she lowered her head back to the pillow;_ I have ages before she had to go to school. In fact-_

She sat bolt upright.

Today was the 1st of September.

Today she was going to Hogwarts.

Today had started 8 hours ago and Aunt Harriet had said she was going to leave for Kings Cross station at 8:15.

**_By the angel._**

She jumped out of bed and thanked her lucky stars that she had chosen to shower and pack last night. Tessa sprinted to the bathroom and looked despairingly at her knotted hair. She would have to brush it in the train. Grabbing a hair tie that was luckily at the side of the sink, she quickly put her brunette hair up in a questionable bun that sat at the top of her head. Tessa splashed some water onto her bedraggled face and quickly brushed her teeth, while checking to see if there were any suspicious things placed on her countenance. She gave herself the all-clear for cleanliness and sprinted back into her room. Rifling through her cupboard of clothes she jumped her way into a pair of skinny jeans that were thankfully the longest pair she owned. Tessa, being a very tall girl, could hardly find pants that reached her ankles without making herself look like a clown.

Reasonably dressed, she quickly tied up the laces on her combat boots and grabbed the handle of her Hogwarts chest. _Way too heavy_. Tessa quickly opened up her chest and rifled through.

"Theresa Gray! Where are you? We are about to leave- are you ready yet?" shouted her Aunt from the stairs. Tessa quickly shouted back that she was on her way when she finally found what she needed. Closing her chest she held her wand in her hand. 9 inches with black root and unicorn hair. She stared at it for a second, loving the comfort it gave her by just being the shape and weight it was.

Realising that she was in a rush, Tessa shook herself and concentrated on her chest. "Wengardium leviosar" she said as it raised itself in mid-air.

The train on platform 9 ¾ was loud and big and crowded, just as Tessa had remembered it. She made her way onto the Hogwarts Express and wheeled her chest down the busy corridors when someone hugged her. The person hugging her smelt of lemons and mint shampoo.

"Cecy!" Tessa exclaimed wrapping her arms around the girl currently squeezing her to death. "How have you been?"

The black haired girl let go off Tessa and almost started jumping up and down with excitement. "I have been absolutely positively brilliant! I have _so_ much to tell you Tessa! But first off- how are you? How were your holidays? Did you have fun? I had fun. I had a lot of fun. I probably would have had more fun if I had gotten to see you, though. I did get to see Gabriel and- oh gosh! I have to tell you about Gabriel. I mean, I know you know him and all but he came over to meet Mum and Dad and-"

"Hurry up!" interrupted somebody down the corridor from the two girls. There were murmurs of agreement throughout the carriage and Cecily sighed exasperatedly.

"Don't get your panties in a twist!" she shouted as she dragged Tessa into the compartment she was originally sitting in. There was no one else inside the carriage and Tessa was grateful. She knew that not many people could handle Cecily's inherent chattering- as she tended to go on quite a bit. But she was also quite glad that she was Cecily's friend. Where Tessa could handle Cecily's need to talk, Cecily could handle Tessa's need to always ask questions. They made a great pair.

"So, Gabriel met your parents?" Tessa asked as she collected all the strength she could muster and tried to lift up her Hogwarts chest to place on the bench above where they would be sitting.

"Yep. I was so nervous before but- oh, here, let me do that." Cecily, noticing Tessa's struggle, lifted up her case and into the shelf as easily as if it was a feather. Tessa sent her a thankful smile and Cecily countered it with a knowing one. The girl's sat down and Cecily went on. "But, I basically worried for nothing- surprisingly Mum and Dad actually liked Gabriel."

Tessa gasped jokingly and Cecily stuck out her tongue playfully and went on. "I think I was more worried about dad's view on Benedict Lightwood, but he seemed not to mind as much who Gabe's father was and more about the type of person Gabriel is himself. Although, Will did make things uncomfortable by introducing him before I had the chance to."

"He didn't- did he?"

"He did."

There was silence for a second before Tessa started to laugh. Cecily shot her a glare but Tessa knew she didn't mind Tessa's amusement too much. Basically, when Cecily's father- Edmund Herondale- went to Hogwarts, so did Benedict Lightwood. And when Benedict Lightwood was in sixth year he accidently turned himself into a worm in Edmunds transfiguration class. From there on out his nickname at school was 'Benedict Lightworm'. So ever since Cecily's dad had told her and her brother Will the story, Will (having never quite liked Gabriel) always called Gabriel 'Gabriel Lightworm'.

For the next half hour the girls talked to each other about their time away from Hogwarts. Cecily had a lot to tell- about Gabriel and her time in her family's actual house in Wales. Tessa didn't have too much to say but Cecily seemed content. After half an hour Tessa had to leave, and although Cecily was sad to see her go, she did say that she hadn't even attempted the homework she was given over the holidays and that she may as well start on that and she was-although disappointed-grateful for Tessa's leave. And with that bidding of farewell, Tessa made her way to the front carriage for the prefects meeting.

Ever since fifth year Tessa had been a prefect for Gryffindor house, along with another one of her friends, Jem. It was no surprise when Jem was chosen to be a prefect. He was well-mannered, always polite and constantly enjoyable to be around. Everyone respected James Carstairs. And anybody who was lucky enough to be close to him was privileged indeed. Tessa didn't know what her life would be like without Jem as a friend. He was one of her guiding lights through the time when her parents had died him, along with Cecily and her brother, were one of the reasons that she had even stayed at Hogwarts.

Finally reaching the enlarged compartment, Tessa made her way inside. Surprisingly only Jem was there. Not that she was complaining. As soon as he saw her Jem stood up and without saying a word he hugged her.

Without realising it Tessa knew that she had missed Jem over the holidays. She missed his warmth and his presence. She knew that even thinking about the colour of Jem's hair and eyes – an unusual silver that, although it was brought through what Tessa had heard was a horrific experience, made her feel comforted. Somehow, someway, Jem must've realised that, although time away from Hogwarts was a nice change, the time away from her friends had caused her to relive some unwanted memories. As holidays always did for her.

Jem let her go and then smiled at her, his narrowed eyes crinkling at the corners. "Have a nice sleep?" He questioned, evidently noticing the bags under her eyes.

She sighed. "Unfortunately so." Jem sat down and Tessa sat opposite him.

"Unfortunately?" Jem replied, "I thought you loved sleep the same way you love books."

"Oh no, I love sleep. I thrive on excessive amounts of it. _But_ I'm not exactly in favour of it when it makes me an hour late to wake up."

And at that moment the compartment door opened and in came the head boy and girl, Sophie Collins and Gideon Lightwood. Sophie was a Hufflepuff whereas Gideon was a Ravenclaw. They were both model students so it wasn't a surprise to find out that they were each wearing the silver badges. After they came in, it seemed as if everyone else was magnets and by two minutes time all the prefects were there and were present for the meeting to launch.

Both Jem and Tessa made their way back to Cecily's compartment after having sat through the prefect's meeting. It was fairly straightforward and to the point which made the meeting to be easy to sit through. Tessa would have expected nothing else from Sophie or Gideon.

The conversation that Jem and Tessa had shared from the ending of the Prefect meeting stopped almost immediately as they neared the compartment. The sound of shouting was evident through the closed door and with one worried glance shared with Jem, Tessa opened the door.

Cecily Herondale and her older brother Will were sitting across from each other in the compartment. They both looked ready to throttle each other so Tessa quickly intervened by raising her voice.

"What are you two shouting about?" She asked. "Jem and I could hear you miles away."

Will looked up at her his deep blue eyes widening with surprise. He hadn't seen Tessa since the last time at Hogwarts and it was probably a weird way to meet up again. Will and Tessa were friends, just like Jem and Cecily were to Tessa. But Will was the only person in their group that made her painstakingly annoyed most of the time. What with his arrogance and egotistical side- it was enough to make anyone want to strangle themselves. Though he wasn't always like that. When Tessa was feeling down he could always cheer her up by writing her silly poetry or making a fool of himself. And Tessa normally thought that he had always put a wall up around him- as to not let anyone in. So she tolerated him most of the time. He really was an amazing person if you got to know him truly. Not that she would ever tell any sane human being that fact.

The boy with the black hair regained himself quickly. "We were just having a perfectly calm conversation about a certain two-faced narcissistic prig called Gabriel Lightworm."

At that moment Jem strolled in and took a seat next to Will. "'Perfectly calm', indeed." He said sarcastically while leaning back in the chair. Tessa went to sit down next to Cecily.

"Okay so things got a little heated. But it's only because you, Cecy, are trying to convince me about something that is an utter lie." Will said calmly, staring straight at his sister.

"It isn't a lie!" Cecily proclaimed, going red in the face. "If you would just get over your childish dislike for him-"

"It isn't just _childish dislike_. It is an utter hatred I feel for the idiot."

"He is not an idiot! You havn't even tried to like him. Mam and dad even like him. _Pob chi erioed wedi ceisio ei wneud yw gwneud fy uffern mywyd ac rwy'n sâl ohono!_"

"_Y cyfan yr wyf yn ceisio ei wneud yw gwneud i chi weld synnwyr nad yw Gabriel yn dda i chi. Gallech wneud ffordd well, ac ni fyddaf yn eich gweld yn gostwng eich safonau i rywun fel ef."_

"Ostwng fy safonau? A ydych yn ddifrifol gyda mi ar hyn o bryd? Nid wyf yn gallu…."

It was at this time that Jem and Tessa realised that they couldn't stop this argument. When Will and Cecily changed languages, it was obviously just between the two of them. The siblings didn't fight often, Tessa reflected. In fact the two rarely fought at all. The fact that they hung out with each other a lot, said a lot. If they weren't siblings, Tessa thought they would be good friends. Jem caught her attention away from the Herondale pair.

"So, what did you think of the meeting?" He asked.

"It was surprisingly bearable." Tessa said. "Gideon and Sophie make a really good pair."

Jem smiled thoughtfully, "They do, don't they? It's interesting Magnus chose them considering they're together. But I'm sure-"

"They're together?" Tessa interrupted. Realising it was quite a rude thing to do she amended her statement. "Sorry for stopping you mid-way but… Sophie and Gideon are a couple? When did this happen?"

"It's alright." Said Jem, looking bemused. "But yes, over the summer they started dating and it's all Gideon was able to talk about for the last few weeks of the holidays."

"That's right- you two live near each other, don't you?" Tessa said fiddling with a stray piece of string on her sweater.

"Yep. They do make an amazing couple though." Will and Cecily were still talking in low voices so Tessa looked up to Jem, only to realise that he was already staring at her. They both blushed and Tessa cleared her throat.

"I'm glad. Sophie really does deserve someone like Gideon." Jem nodded in agreement and looked out the window. Tessa looked towards the two Herondales. They had quieted down, obviously both too fed up with one anothers antics to carry on. I t was a stiff silence but Tessa had been through worse. Even so, the lack of sound felt almost deafening to Tessa in some strange way. She got up from her seat and stood up on her tippy toes to open the top of her trunk. Once that was open she reached down to get her wand out of her combat boots. She raised it towards the chest.

"Accio brush." The brush landed itself in Tessas hand and she closed the trunk. Sitting back down she gingerly undid her hair from its monstrosity of a bun and parted it with her fingers. She gently brushed it. The brush flitted softly through the bottom of her hair and the steady strokes somehow calmed her a great deal. She was grateful.

After her hair was ridded of the knots she sent her brush away and leant back in to the chair.

"Couldn't you just brush your hair using magic?" Will asked, breaking her out of her reverie.

She blinked. "It helps me think. If I used magic it'd be over and done with in a second."

"Helps you think about what?" Will seemed curious and he leant his elbows on his knees.

Tessa shrugged. "I don't know. Whatever, I guess." She looked out the window and then something struck her train of thought. "Will?"

"Tess." He replied with his nickname for her.

"Did you ever finish reading the book I gave you?" She asked.

"I finished it the day I got home."

"Oh." She was surprised he read it so quickly. She would have assumed that he was doing a lot of things, what with returning back to his home in Wales after an entire year or so save Christmas. "Did you enjoy it?"

He leant back in his chair and ran his hand though his thick black hair. Tessa wondered when was the last time he bothered to style it. It always was messy. Although it never looked bad it was just… messy. "It was a little slow paced until the end. Though, anything would have been interesting compared to boring bloody Wales." Will said looking irritated as if reliving memories.

"Wales wasn't boring!" Cecily protested, obviously listening in on their conversation. Will looked to her with a slight smile on his face, all thoughts of their argument obviously out of mind Tessa acknowledged. The siblings often did forget about the others misdoings' so quickly- but only if it was against one another. Besides that both Cecily and Will did not forgive easily.

"That's only because you had Mam and Dad doting on your every movement after you received you OWL's." He stated.

The black haired girl laughed good-naturedly. "True. Who knew the knowledge of your child improving was enough to send you completely in love. If I'd known that I would have tried harder sooner." She looked towards Jem who was obviously not listening. He had his eyes closed and his head was leaning across the head-rest. "Jem, wake up." Jem's luminescent silver eyes flicked open and he gave a questioning gaze to Cecily. She went on. "We were just talking about OWL's- what did you receive in yours?"

With anyone else they would have been offended by Cecily's question. But since it was Jem he didn't mind too much. "I went surprisingly well." He answered.

"No doubt after all of that studying." Will said and then looked at his nails "Although, _I _did not even have to pick up a non-fiction book on any matter. My brain simply is brilliant on its own with no prodding whatsoever."


End file.
